In contrast to the F-4’s “all-weather interceptor” role, the Phantom made many of its early cruises as paired squadrons with F-8 units, which were considered “day fighter” (or, in the opinion of the F-8 pilots, “fighter”) units
A sleek design with a gaping jet intake beneath the fuselage and a variable-incidence wing that could be raised to enable the aircraft to land and take off at slow speeds while maintaining excellent visibility for the pilot made the F-8 Crusader one of the most capable fighters of the post-World War II era. The Crusader’s pilots dubbed it the “Last of the Gunfighters” because it carried a 20mm cannon during a time when fighter pilots depended more and more on missiles.
Rather, the Navy’s need for a high-altitude interceptor to protect carriers equipped with long-range air-to-air missiles from attacking aircraft led to the development of the F-4 Phantom II. McDonnell Aircraft Company provided the F4H (later renamed the F-4) Phantom II in answer to these requirements. The aircraft had its first flight in 1958, with deliveries to Navy and Marine Corps squadrons beginning in 1960. It became one of the most frequently used aircraft in aviation history when its performance and adaptability eventually drew the attention of not only the US Air Force but also the air forces of 10 other countries.
In contrast to the F-4’s “all-weather interceptor” role, many of the Phantom’s early cruises were paired squadrons with F-8 units, which were considered “day fighter” (or, in the F-8 pilots’ estimation, “fighter”) units, as explained by Peter E. Davies in his book Gray Ghosts, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F-4 Phantoms. When the F-4 started to outnumber the Crusader and F-8 drivers began switching to the Phantom, the antagonism between the two communities grew more intense. Before making the switch, Jerry B. “Devil” Houston, who piloted Crusaders with a VF-11, summed up the situation as follows:
“The F-8 stole your heart from the get-go with its beauty and, for its time, power (God, an afterburner!), but it quickly earned an ensign-killer reputation, rightly or wrongly. In the long run, that reputation contributed greatly to fighter pilot development in the Navy; only the top ten percent of pilot graduates were even considered for the F-8 pipeline—the créme de la créme. And as luck would have it, a damn solid base of mid-level stick-and-throttle talent groomed the hungry youngsters into frothing-at-the-mouth tacticians. Without experiencing it, anyone would be hard-pressed to understand the aura that surrounded that early F-8 Crusader community. An ensign in F-8s took no crap from a Lieutenant Commander who flew anything else. Period.
“Among that small but growing privileged group, anyone in the first few squadrons knew damn near exactly where they stood in the overall tactics ladder. Killing, capability meant everything: King of the Mountain, in spades. Gunnery, tactics, gunnery, tactics, just enough intercept training to get you into the sky with another victim. F-8s didn’t bomb then—hell, the plane didn’t even have hard points on the wings. In other words, everything funneled the best pilots and the best airplanes through a narrow training spout and out-popped the world’s best fighter pilots. They all ate, breathed, thought, and dreamed about fighting airplanes. All the time.
“The F-4, on the other hand, was an ugly, two-seated, gas-hog monster that hit the Fleet with a bunch of F3H Demon interceptor pilots. Consequently, the F-4s got off to a horrid start when running into F-8s. Their reputation was dog-s**t, and the ex-Demon drivers didn’t have a clue about changing it. So they practiced intercepts, avoided tactics, and groomed follow-on clods in their own image. All the while, that lovely top-ten percent advantage kept aircrew infusing the Crusader community with superior talent, which rapidly molded into long-clawed killers. The rich got richer—and even richer. Better people, better training, frightful competition. Crusader pilots didn’t have to brag; they owned the sky. So it remained, until finally an F-8 jock got into an F-4, screaming and dragging his heels all the way. The rest is history.”
F-8 pilots and tactics, which were initially transferred from their squadrons to the Phantom, undoubtedly contributed to the rapid advancement of F-4 ACM training. Jerry Houston described his VF-51 squadron as a “double-barreled Crusader squadron with an extra set of eyeballs in each plane” as late as 1971 when the squadron transitioned from the F-8J to the F-4B. However, the need for ACM was recognized far earlier than then, and it was even recognized before the late 1960s initiatives that led to the development of the Top Gun ACM training program.
Gray Ghosts, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F-4 Phantoms is published by Schiffer Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by U.S. Navy